After a period of substantial growth through the 1990s, the male juvenile arrest rate for drug abuse violations generally declined after 1996 while the female rate remained relatively stable, with a modest decline in recent years.

By 2012, the drug abuse arrest rate for males declined 41% from its 1996 peak, while the rate for females was down 27% from its 2004 peak. Despite declines in recent years for both groups, the arrest rates in 2011 were above the rates in 1980 (17% for males and 21% for females).

In 2012, the male drug arrest rate was more than four times the female rate.